Seeking a female role model

Ada Lovelace Day is an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. As part of the celebration, if that is the right word, I've pledged to blog about a female role model. Thinking about it, this is pretty hard, with a background in science I can only remember two female lecturers, a supervisor and one female boss. I don't think any would stand out as a role model for their use of technology.

So perhaps a woman from history would be fitting. The only female recipient of two Nobel prizes, Marie Curie is truly inspiring on the intellectual and human level. She worked to pay for her sister's education, before attending the Sorbonne University herself. Having discovered that x-rays could kill tumours, she did not patent the methods she and her husband developed to process radium nor the medical applications. Hence both her scientific knowledge and conscious generosity still contribute to many peoples lives today.

Oh, and being a woman at the turn of the century, she was turned down for a seat with the French Academy of Sciences.